Syria, budget and debt top congressional agenda WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress returns to work facing a momentous vote on whether the United States should attack Syria, a question that overshadows a crowded and contentious agenda of budget fights, health care, farm policy and possible limits on the government’s surveillance of millions of Americans. Back Monday after a five-week break, many lawmakers stand as a major obstacle to President Barack Obama’s promised strikes against Syria amid fears...

The job market Fed faces: healing but still ailing WASHINGTON (AP) — Just how sturdy is the U.S. job market? That’s the key question the Federal Reserve will face when it decides later this month whether to reduce its economic stimulus. The answer depends on where you look. The economy has added jobs for 35 straight months. Unemployment has reached a 4 1/2-year low of 7.3 percent. Layoffs are dwindling. Yet other barometers of the job market point to chronic weakness: The pace of hiring remain...

US-Mexico border groups want efficient crossings SAN DIEGO (AP) — Under the watch of a Border Patrol agent, U.S. and Mexican pastors set up two small altars — one on each side of a towering border fence — for their Sunday service that spans two countries. The priests then break bread simultaneously and hold up their challises to the tightly woven metal barrier. The guitar player is in Mexico, strumming a song led by clergy on the U.S. side. The buzzing of a passing Border Patrol officer on a...

Pryor to oppose military action against Syria LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor on Saturday said he’s opposed to taking military action against Syria, splitting with the White House and his Republican challenger as a vote on the president’s request to intervene heads to a skeptical Congress. The two-term senator from Arkansas said he cannot support the resolution that’s expected to go before lawmakers in the next week to intervene against Syria, which U.S. officials say k...

Quorum Court reads millage ordinanceThe Pope County Quorum Court heard the first reading Thursday of an ordinance that would levy an additional mill of real and personal property taxes. Justice Ben Cross, who sponsored the bill, said the Budget Committee had examined the matter and discussed it at length before making the proposal to add an additional mill. He noted the county’s millage has been the same since 1994. “Basically, what came out of the budget committee meeting was a...

FBI, DHS: No specific threat to 9/11 anniversary WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is aware of no credible or specific information that points to any terror plot tied to the anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, according to a new confidential threat assessment from the FBI and Homeland Security Department obtained by The Associated Press. The new assessment, dated Thursday, said that intelligence agencies remain concerned that al-Qaida and its affiliates are committed to carrying out at...

7 file to run for state Senate seat LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Four Democrats and three Republicans filed by Friday’s deadline to run for a northeast Arkansas state Senate seat vacated by a legislator who resigned after the state Ethics Commission said he spent thousands in campaign dollars on personal items. The seven candidates are running to fill the remainder of former Sen. Paul Bookout’s term. Bookout, a Democrat and former president of the state Senate, resigned last month after t...

Searcy pushes back vote on solicitors SEARCY (AP) — Searcy city leaders say they will wait until next year to vote on a proposal that could reduce the number of solicitors allowed in the community. Mayor David Morris said Thursday the city can afford to wait since the fall and winter are approaching and the number of door-to-door solicitors will drop until spring. “With not as many solicitors out right now, it gives us ample time to look at how to have a good resolution,” Morris s...

Beebe staff member says he was carjacked LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The deputy chief of staff for Gov. Mike Beebe says he was beaten, robbed and carjacked in Little Rock early Thursday morning but police say they have different accounts of a crime. Police said Lamar Davis, 42, told officers that he was driving early Thursday when three men flagged him down, then beat him, took him to an ATM and robbed him. Also overnight, a woman called from a motel and told investigators she saw three men i...

New Texarkana manager is old Texarkana manager TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) — The new city manager in Texarkana is the old city manager. Council members voted 4-2 Thursday night to rehire Harold Boldt — two months after approving a $162,000 severance package for him. “I think Boldt keeps coming back like a vulture to see what he did and then do it again,” Texarkana resident Augie Harder said at a public hearing on whether the city should rehire Boldt. In March, Boldt lost his temper with a citizen...

US officials: US considers training Syria rebels WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is considering a plan to use U.S. military trainers to help increase the capabilities of the Syrian rebels, in a move that would greatly expand the current CIA training being done quietly in Jordan, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. Any training would take place outside Syria, and one possible location would be Jordan. The officials said no decision had been made, but that discussi...

Health law coverage may track workplace cost shift WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s health care law appears to mirror a trend in job-based insurance, where employees are being nudged into cost-saving plans that require them to pay a bigger share of their medical expenses. Two independent studies out this week highlighted attractive prices for less-generous “bronze” plans that will offer low monthly premiums but require patients to pick up more of the cost if they get sick. Consumers ...

Alaska town roots for feline mayor attacked by dog ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The honorary mayor of a tiny Alaska town is noticeably absent this week, when he should be hanging out at the general store or sipping his water-catnip concoctions from a wine glass at the pub next door. Instead, Stubbs the cat is sedated and under veterinary care after he was badly injured in a vicious dog attack in Talkeetna, a quirky community of 900 that elected him in a write-in campaign 15 years ago. Talkeetna ha...

Brighter US economy makes Fed tapering more likely WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy is showing strength as summer nears a close — a trend that’s raising the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will slow its bond buying later this month. The steady improvement is also lifting hopes for Friday’s report on job growth last month. The August gain is expected to nearly match the year’s monthly average of 192,000 jobs. On Thursday, reports showed that services companies are stepping up hiring and that a...

Feds sending $5M for road work HEBER SPRINGS (AP) — A highway in central Arkansas will be getting $5 million in improvements as part of a $123 million federal program to fix rural roads. The U.S. Transportation Department announced Thursday that Arkansas’ portion of the money will go to road improvements and bridge replacements on Highway 92. The highway runs from Plumerville in Conway County to Heber Springs near Greers Ferry Lake. Roads in the region have been put under s...

Special prosecutor sought for Arkansas sheriff BENTON (AP) — An Arkansas prosecutor has asked a judge to appoint a special prosecutor to explore the possibility of removing the sheriff of Saline County following his guilty plea to a public drunkenness charge. Prosecuting Attorney Ken Casady made the request in a letter Thursday to Judge Robert Herzfeld. Casady says ethical concerns and his previous working relationship with Sheriff Bruce Pennington had forced him to step aside from any rem...

City takes closer look at drainage projectRussellville aldermen and other city officials met Wednesday to consider the various alternatives for a proposed drainage project. The proposed project would be in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and include improvements to Prairie Creek and Engineers Ditch, as well as the construction of a detention basin near Weir Road. Improvements would be made from the basin west to the culmination of Prairie Creek and include widening t...

Dardanelle council doesn’t act on chicken ordinanceDARDANELLE — A motion to consider an ordinance that would permit and regulate the ownership of chickens failed to garner a second at Tuesday’s meeting of the Dardanelle City Council. The city currently doesn’t have any ordinance specifically addressing the matter. A resident spoke on behalf of the ordinance. He said eggs were extremely nutritious and chickens were inexpensive to keep, implying that keeping chickens could be a step toward allev...

Clinton defends federal health care law in speech LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Bill Clinton urged opponents of the federal health care law Wednesday to stop trying to repeal it and instead work to improve it, as the White House enlisted the former president to make the case for its signature domestic accomplishment. Speaking at his presidential library in downtown Little Rock, Clinton offered a detailed defense and explanation of the law as a key part of its implementation nears. His nearly hour-long s...

2 ex-employees of nursing home arrested for theft PERRYVILLE (AP) — Two former employees of a Perry County nursing home are charged with exploiting elderly patients by raiding at trust account. The Arkansas attorney general’s office said Wednesday that Jewel Darlene English, 48, and Sharla Renea Christie, 35, both Perryville residents, spent the money on clothes, jewelry and other personal items. They are accused of stealing from a total of $4,600 from a trust account that was in place to cov...